Subliminal Throwback is a site-specific outdoor 3-D audio sound installation located in the amphitheatre between Gydas vei 8 and Slemdalsveiein 11 at Majorstuen, Oslo. The work was created by Natasha Barrett as part of the Reconfiguring the Landscape Project hosted by the Norwegian Academy for Music in Oslo.
The installation consists of three, 30-minute synchronised audio layers playing in a continuous loop:
- An ambisonics (3D audio) composition played over eight Meyer Sound MM-X4P loudspeakers, partly hidden.
- An ambisonics composition played over a custom-designed beam-forming loudspeaker called the 170, visually prominent.
- A low frequency layer played over a sub bass speaker.
Subliminal Throwback marked the final stage in an 18-month process of research and practical experiments probing the hidden artefacts of everyday soundscapes - the sounds and details which we ignore or fail to engage with - to draw them into a new audible reality. Underlying the work is the hypothesis that spatially distributed information offers new opportunities to explore, isolate and musically develop features of interest in the sound landscape, and that composition should address the same degree of spatiality as reality.
1. The application of 3D impulse responses.
Recording 3D impulse responses that capture an acoustic fingerprint of the outdoor space, and then using this data to magnify subtle acoustic features into intriguing experiences. More about this work can be found in the section on 3D Impulse responses.
2. The decomposition of 3D recordings into directional information.
The ‘decomposition’ or pulling apart of high spatial resolution 3D recordings into clear directional sound sources. The results then allow the sound environment to be analysed for interesting content that is normally too blurred or masked in noise, and for these features to be enhanced and used as materials for sound-art. More about this work can be found in the section on analysing the environment.
3. The invention and application of new loudspeaker technologies.
The invention and engineering of a new portable loudspeaker that shoots directional beams of sound off surrounding building structures, highlighting geometry and materials. This part of the work was a collaboration with team member Professor Franz Zotter of the IEM (Institute of Electronic Music and Acoustics) who designed and prototyped the loudspeaker. More about this work can be found in the section about prototype loudspeaker development.
